Sunday, September 29, 2013

A not at all Silent Sunday: Museum Day



Yesterday (Saturday, September 28, 2013), my friend Sally and I took off for El Dorado, KS, where we had tickets for the Smithsonian sponsored Museum Day.  As she was pulling into my driveway, I took my very first photo with my new camera, a Nikon CoolPix.   I had heard so many good things about these cameras, I finally bought one.

Unfortunately, when I got it, the battery was exhausted and I couldn't get the charger that came with it to work.  Sounds like the story of my life!  Fortunately, on Friday, I took it back and the man who originally waited on me, waited on me again.  He confirmed what I suspected.  Either the camera connection or the charger was defective.  He gave me a new camera, no questions asked.

After completely charging the battery, there was no time to take any photos before we left on Saturday morning.   I always save my photos at 1600 X 1200, which is the next to the lowest setting on any of the cameras I own.  The lowest setting is 640 X 480, but that doesn't give me any opportunity to crop.  Unbeknown to me, when I saved these photos, the file size was SO LARGE, I saved them on "0" or zero, the lowest PhotoShop setting possible.  When I added them to my blog, I was shocked at how pixelated they were.  They each started out at nearly 6 Mb, and even on the zero setting, they were still well over 100 Kb each.


These were lovely photos, but off the chart when it came to amount of space they used  on my blog.  Here you see our first destination,  the Butler County Historical Society and Kansas Oil Museum.

I was sick about these photos, because I took well over 350 and they were all so very easy to read and see.  But now you can barely see a few of the faces, much less read the words and biographies.

One of the photos I took a picture of was simply fantastic, until I saved it for my blog.

One of my first close-ups was very readable.  Even the multiplication flash card sign in the back was readable.  Click to enlarge the photo and you'll see what I mean.

The museum was partly dedicated to the history of El Dorado, and partly related to the oil that made it famous.

The  museum continued outside over 10 acres.  After we toured all the buildings, took lots of photos, and sat at a picnic bench to refresh ourselves, we toured the gift shop.  Sally was quite surprised I actually purchased something.  I'll show it once I photograph it.

Next, we went to the Coutts Museum, where I failed to capture even a single photo of the outside of the building.  This is from their web site and why it's so clear.

They are famous for their collection of Remington bronzes,

like this one I captured when we first walked in.  There were Remington bronzes on all three floors.

Now I need to determine how to show more of these photos, since I can't save them any lower, and they look terrible when I save them on such a low setting.  I'm going to lower the resolution, which I hope will help with the next photos I take.  Any other advice would be greatly appreciated.

10 thoughtful remarks:

Crafty Loops said...

It sounds to me like you are running your photos through RAW data rather than jpeg. There should be a setting on your camera to save your images as jpeg, png or RAW and you want either png or jpeg. Plus you can fiddle about with the resolution but its the format settings that you'll need to change, ie jpeg/png. Im no camera expert though, lol. I have a whooper of a camera at home and my images are maahoosive too so my hubby did something in the settings to save them as jpeg images and changed the resolution. The quality is still amazing though. But thats what it sounds like you need to do. Other than that, I haven't a notion, lol. My hubby is the techno genius in our house. I just nod and smile and get my technology handed back to me in fine working order, heehee. I hope you are able to get it converted, it should be in your camera's settings. Lee xx

Unknown said...

Thank you for sharing your museum trip. I found it very interesting. I'll look forward to seeing your purchase. xxoo

Dawn said...

Looks like you pair had a fab day sweetie, fascinating pics too, thanks for sharing as always.
Huge hugs x x x x

Barb said...

I looks like you had a wonderful day. It is so nice to just get out and enjoy, what looks like, great weather.
Barb
NC

Rita said...

I don't know enough. I just point and shoot. Zoom when needed--and can't get very close to anything far away with my zoom. Good luck.
Looks like a great trip! Will wait to see what you bought. :)

Andria said...

I've got no photography insight, but oh, I love that chalk liner....I remember those well from when I was in school. And now my daughter's teacher uses a SmartBoard in kindergarten...so different from just the 1970s and 1980s!

Darla said...

Looks like you found lots of interesting things on your day out. I love going to museums, haven't been for awhile though.

Darla

~*~Patty S said...

Looks like it was a beautiful day to try out your new camera (yay!)and visit the museum!
Lots to catch up after traveling...
Happy Monday and last day of September!
oxo

dawn said...

Hello, great pictures from your trip! So happy that you got a new camera! Can't help you too much since I don't know about cameras. Hope you get it to work ok and can enjoy it. Can't wait to see what you got, uummm maybe another rocking horse?? A mug?

I'm sharing mandala today and ready for T time with you tomorrow!
Have a wonderful day!

Anonymous said...

Wow great trip. YOu have some amazing museums there and you manage to find the best stuff every time you and Sally venture out! xox